I found this book in a google search and got it from my local library. The book by Jim Johnson is really small and has some good advice. The exercises prescribed to cure less-than-perfect knee joint are simple and precise. There are many reasons why a knee starts to hurt. Short muscles in the leg, lower hip flexibility, weak quads, arthritis and many more besides the hockey injuries, falls, road accidents or tears in the various ligaments of the knee.
One of the interesting points is that either weak quads lead to poor knees or that the poor knees lead to weak quads. The author says, no matter what is causing the other one to perform badly, the solution is simple. Start strengthening the quads which eventually improves the knees. Most of the time, an injury or an issue with the knee starts to waste or weaken the quads.
The author says there are four key things that a good knee must have- strength, flexibility, proprioception and endurance. He suggests simple and effective exercises for each one of them. My favorite one is proprioception, by which you should be able to feel the muscles by closing your eyes. Close the eyes and balance on just one leg. I enjoy this exercise a lot.
Lack of flexibility in the hips and knee make one walk slower. I found this an interesting fact. Flexibility of the knee can be tremendously improved by stretches. Hamstring stretches and quad stretches. A lot of yoga asanas can help in this. Strangely, the author does not mention yoga here. Instead, he uses “body-mind technique”.
This is my grouse with the author. He also recommends “relaxation response” which is nothing but Pranayama and meditation. He refrains from using these words. He says a technique of repeating a word or short phrase like “One” or “Our Father who art in heaven” is known to help solve the knee injury. There is also a section which says knee issues can be caused by psychological variables. Depression and anxiety are known to aggravate knee issue. May be these variables are the blocks in the mind which the yoga teacher used.
My own self analysis of my injury after reading the book is that there may be a tear in the ligament. This is a serious problem which might need surgery in bad cases. I am not sure how effective the medical insurance plan is in Canada. Pretty sure, it is better than the US if I believe Roger Moore’s Sicko. I plan to check out my knee thoroughly next time I go to India.
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